A state audit has revealed further details of financial mismanagement at NC Central University. The report shows that the director of the Historically Minority Colleges and Universities Consortium diverted more than a million dollars to a secret fund only she controlled.
Nan Coleman was the administrator who set up the account, and over the course of six years, she paid herself for travel expenses, clothes, and even car repairs. All told, she took in more than a quarter of a million dollars. Complaints led NC Central officials to investigate in 2009, after Coleman was fired. The school’s provost also received money from the secret account. She was also fired. State auditor Beth Wood calls the level of mismanagement “disconcerting.”
Beth Wood: "They’re pretty egregious as to the findings. You’ve got a consortium with an executive director and they’re putting money into an unauthorized bank account. Any where there’s tax dollars involved, it’s disappointing."
The consortium has been discontinued. The school is working with prosecutors to recover funds.
